Awkward
by jennyellen
Summary: They weren't friends. Not exactly. Nor were they enemies. They weren't just acquaintances either. They were, as Fred so elequently put it, "just two people who hung out whilst their best mates were shagging." This is the story of James and Eliza!


**A/N: Hi there, this has been mulling around in my head for a while. Hope you like it!**

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I'm nervous. It's a cold, snowy day and I'm standing in the Entrance Hall, all wrapped up in duffle coat and gloves, waiting to go to Hogsmeade.

"oooohhh", I hear you say in your best Georgia Haskey voice. "Who are you waiting for Eliza?"

Well, I'll tell you.

I'm waiting for James Sirius Potter.

At the mention of the name James Potter, Georgia would start flicking her hair, spraying vanilla perfume and hastily applying thick coatings of cherry flavoured lip gloss. She'd pout and blow kisses. Then it would sink in. "James Potter asked **YOU**?"

And, surprise, surprise, no, he didn't. But I didn't ask him either. It was all the idea of my best friend Anna so that she could abandon me to go and shag Fred Weasley in the Shrieking Shack and still have a clear conscience. It was, as she explained to me in her patronising five year old voice, a perfect idea as "James would be alone too, without Fred, so why didn't the two of us just go together? Fred thinks it's a brilliant idea!".  
Yeah, Fred, a brilliant idea. About as brilliant an idea as when my mum tried to set me up with her best friend's very spotty, very short and very gay, seventeen year old son.

But James isn't gay. Or spotty. Or short. That's the problem. He's kind. He's funny. He's handsome. He's popular. And Eliza Wood (that's me) isn't any of those things. She is, as Georgia Haskey and cronies once said "a shy, awkward, quidditch obsessed weirdo with all the personality of a flobber worm".

But that's not the worst of it. The worst thing is that James Potter would be entirely too KIND to say anything if I was boring him to death by waffling on about Porksoff Ploys and Hawkshead Attacking Formations and being about as entertaining as a flobber worm. He'd smile and nod and say all the right things, then avoid me for the rest of my time at Hogwarts. Which would be a disaster. And NOOOO, not because I fancy him. I don't fancy him. Not at all. Nu-uh. It's because we're on the same Quidditch team. It would seriously jeopardise Gryffindor chance of winning if their star seeker and star Chaser refused to be in the vicinity of one another. That WOULD be disastrous.

I'm just mulling over this, about to run off, leg it and hide in a broom cupboard, when James arrives.

Funnily enough, he looks as nervous as I feel. That's odd. "Shall we get going then?" he asks and we set off.

Now there's only one problem with being a bashful, nervous, awkward, fifteen year old girl in the company of a tall, tanned, muscular fifteen year old boy with floppy brown hair and twinkling brown eyes; you have absolutely no idea what to say, get all tongue tied and look like a moron.

Luckily, after about two agonisingly long and awkward minutes, James comes to the rescue. "So, what's your brother Daniel doing now?".

Aaaah, Daniel. I should have known we'd have something in common. My brother Daniel had been the Captain of the Gryffindor team for the past two years, and was now a reserve keeper for the team that my Dad managed; Puddlemere United. Daniel loved James, his star seeker, and James idolised Daniel.

I fill James in on what Daniel had been doing since leaving Hogwarts and we carry on talking about the highs and lows of Puddlemere's latest season and their performance in the European League.

Before I know it, we're in Hogsmeade.

"Where would you like to go first?" I ask nervously.

"Quality Quidditch Supplies!" replies James without hesitation, "I need some new broom polish."

So we head off and spend the next half an hour in there drooling over the new Nimbus 2020, with me proudly advising James on the best broom polish for his Comet 3081.

After that, we head to Weasley's Wizarding Whizzes, where I stand around awkwardly getting weird, suggestive looks off his many relatives while James bulk buys fireworks, puking pastilles, and, oddly enough, silver goblets.

Finally, after all that exhausting shopping, we head to the three broom sticks. I'm sitting in the booth, happily supping on my butterbeer and looking around the pub, when, all of a sudden, James disappears from where he was sitting directly opposite me.

I panic. Where's he gone? Was I boring him that much that he just decided to vanish? Had he been kidnapped when I momentarily wasn't looking?

I'm on my hands and knees, crawling under the table (God only knows why), bum in the air gracefully, looking for him, when I become aware that somebody is laughing. James suddenly reappears, sitting in exactly the same spot as he was before.

"It's an invisibility cloak!" he says, laughing even more. "I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist! Where did you think I'd gone?" He laughs some more.

"Not funny." I reply huffily. "You had me worried then." I reach out and punch him in the arm. It's a good punch too, if I do say so myself, well aimed, because I am a chaser after all.

"Oh, but it is funny!" says James, still laughing, rubbing his arm, "wearing this, you can get away with any prank you want: you can trip people up, freak people out by only showing your head or your hand, nick sweets out of people's hands, randomly disappear, pinch girls' bums... the possibilities are endless!"

Just then, McGonagall walks past and I don't know what comes over the usually awkward,shy, sensible me, but all of a sudden I am struck with a feeling of bravery/genius/stupidity and before I know it I've opened my mouth and dared James to pinch McGonagall's bum.

I expect him to say no way, but to my horror/ delight, he laughs and immediately puts on the invisibility cloak, walks up to McGonagall and pinches her bum.

There's a horribly tense pause.

Then, McGonagall whips around, scandalised and does a funny, strangled-catesque high-pitched scream. _"Who did that?" "Who did that?"_ she shrieks, spinning round in circles like a mad woman, losing all composure and dignity, _"Who did that? Detention! Detention! Detentioooon!"_

It takes all my effort not to laugh. I hear the door to the three broom sticks bang shut, pay the bill and leg it out of there as fast as I can after James, laughing. I see him in the middle of the street, doubled over, roaring with laughter.

And, as he does a scarily accurate impression of McGonagall shrieking, screaming and spinning, I can't help but roar with laughter too.

We spend the rest of the afternoon laughing, nicking kiddies sweets and having a snowball fight and before I know it, it's time to meet Anna.

"See you around Eliza," James grins evilly "I've still got to get revenge for that dare..."

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**A/N: So... what did you think? Did you like it? Hate it? Can offer some constructive critisism? Please leave a review! (Especially if you alert or favourite, I'd love to know why!)**


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